The Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars with a bit of style and luck last night as Mark Scheifele, with his parents in the stands, had a hat trick to lead the Jets in a 5-2 win. Before the game there were questions as to how the Jets would fare against a key division rival and one who was nipping at their heels in the standings.
The answer is 'quite fine really'.
The Jets moved to a 3-0 lead with a PP marker from Scheifele and then a few minutes later Patrik Laine scored from the slot on a quick and deadly wrist shot. Tyler Myers came in and scored the second PP goal of the game to give the Jets a 3-0 lead.
This was against the number three ranked PK unit in the league. Take that stat with a grain of salt as Stars are only the 17th ranked unit on the road. The Jets have slowly crept up to the 19th ranked PP unit which has to be seen as positive for the long maligned offensive side of the special teams unit. Again though like the Stars, the Jets PP unit is 6th best at home (25% success) while being 28th on the road.
Interestingly the Jets did not allow the Stars to draw any penalties and give their top-ranked PP unit a chance to do any damage against the home team. That has to be seen as a positive for a team known for taking large amounts of penalties over the season. The good news for the Jets is that they are on the right side of the midpoint for penalty minutes per game at 9:30/gm.
Radulov managed to get the Stars on the board at the end of the first period to extend his streak. Later though Branden Tanev put the puck past Bishop but the goal was disallowed when Scheifele was called for interference with Bishop's stick, a very questionable call that had Jets head coach Paul Maurice enraged and the fans inside livid. With only the Stars scoring late in the second period by Janmark, fans wondered if there would be another hold on for dear-life third period.
That question was answered when Scheifele scored his second of the game in weird fashion as he was the last to touch the puck that went up over Bishop and into the net. To seal the hat trick Scheifele potted the empty net goal at home in front of his parents to complete the feel good story.
By the numbers the Jets were an average team from a possession standpoint and score effects in the third period certainly dictated the pace for the Stars as they tried to mount a comeback. That being said the Jets held fast with Connor Hellebuyck playing below his normal level of play this season. Hellebuyck playing as a mortal and logging a .913 save percentage was more than adequate for the Jets last night. That's a good sign for the team.
In fact last night was full of positive for the Jets, and of course their fans. The team is second in the central division and 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. It seems a long time since the dark days before the Edmonton game near the start of the season. It would be easy to believe that things are 'coming together' for the team and with Patrik Laine feeling some relief for himself by scoring last night the Jets might truly be changing their course.
That's the good news and something to watch. There will be bumps and certainly they will not play to an 80% points percentage every ten games but if the Jets can pay to a 60% points percentage every ten game things would look pretty good for them. That would mean some combination of wins losses and OTL that equal 12 points in ever 10 games. With 70 games remaining that would the Jets would finish the season with 100 points. That would put them clear of the current 88 point 8th place spot.
There's still work to do but there's reason to be optimistic for Jets, and after 12 games they can now look to see what's are sustainable positives with this team and put the worrying about the negatives aside for a bit.